THE WELL-FED E-PUB

Welcome to THE WELL-FED E-PUB!

Serving up food for thought and tasty tips for the prospering FLCW*. Come on in, sit anywhere and bring your appetite!

*FLCW, peppered throughout the ezine, stands for “Freelance Commercial Writer” – the designation for anyone who freelances for businesses (as opposed to writing magazine articles, short stories, poetry, etc.), and typically earns $50-125+ an hour.

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VOLUME 8, ISSUE 7 – JULY 2009

Publishing the first Tuesday of every month since May 2002

Read it Online at: http://www.wellfedwriter.com/july2009.html

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“THE WELL-FED WRITER,” 2009 EDITION – NOW AVAILABLE!

This 368-page beauty includes the heavily updated content of BOTH original “Well-Fed Writer” titles. FR.EE e-Bonus & Shipping. http://www.wellfedwriter.com/ordertwfw.shtml.

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ONE SALES LETTER, 77 RECIPIENTS, $80K IN NEW COPYWRITING BUSINESS??

All the details: http://savagemarketing.com/64000/cmd.php?af=761186.

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Check out The WELL-FED WRITER BLOG! http://www.wellfedwriter.com/blog

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I NEED YOUR GREAT STORIES FOR THE EPUB! I’m seriously low on ALL courses and would love to get your success stories, strategies, tips and features. See “Coffee.”

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MISSED MY TELECLASS? “Thriving as a Freelance Commercial Writer”

38-PAGE instant download just $12! www.wellfedwriter.com/jan07tstranscript.shtml.

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THIS MONTH’S MENU:

I. APPETIZER: HOLIDAY SAMPLER PLATTER

Weekend Festivities Put Yours Truly in Mood of Offering Up Tasty Picnic Spread!

II. “FIELD” GREENS: IS YOUR GLASS HALF-EMPTY OR HALF-FULL?

Seattle FLCW Sees (and Capitalizes On!) Opportunity Where Others See Closed Doors!

III. MAIN COURSE: 4 PATHS TO MORE BUSINESS FROM EXISTING CLIENTS

Canadian FLCW: It’s FAR Easier to Tap Existing Work Sources Than Find New Ones!

IV. DESSERT: Sweet Success Stories and Tips

MI FLCW Uses Lulls to Invest in Her Business, Enjoys Uncommon Success!

TIP: CA FLCW Says “Daily Reading Is an Investment in Your Business!”

V. COFFEE, MINTS AND TOOTHPICKS

- THE WELL-FED E-PUB NEEDS ALL COURSES!

- The WELL-FED WRITER BLOG is Rockin’! http://www.wellfedwriter.com/blog

- MISSED MY TELECLASS? Full 38-PAGE e-Transcript – Just $12!

- AWAI Copywriting (& Other) Courses: Register Here, Get 2 Bonuses (no charge!)

- How Can My Mentoring Service Serve You?

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I. APPETIZER: HOLIDAY SAMPLER PLATTER!

Weekend Festivities Put Yours Truly in Mood of Offering Up Tasty Picnic Spread!

Spent this past weekend at a few 4^th of July parties, grazing among tables groaning with food of every description. It reminded me how, even in these uncertain economic times, we still live in a land of plenty. Many are hurting in this country, but no matter how bad it gets for most of us, compared to how most of the world lives, we are oh-so-fortunate.

It also put me in the mood of sampling this and that, so that’s what this Appetizer is all about – a plateful of tasty bites. Enjoy!

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“THE WELL-FED WRITER,” 2009 EDITION – NOW AVAILABLE!

This 368-page beauty includes the heavily updated content of BOTH original “Well-Fed Writer” titles. FR.EE e-Bonus & Shipping. http://www.wellfedwriter.com/ordertwfw.shtml.

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In last month’s E-PUB, I ran a piece summarizing copywriting guru Marcia Yudkin’s take on direct mail marketing vs. email marketing. Marcia advocated direct mail marketing, but Andrew Hindes (www.theinhousewriter.com) sent me a counterpoint pulling for email marketing. I turned the debate into a blog post. Check out the results at:

http://www.wellfedwriter.com/blog/which-has-been-more-effective-for-you-%E2%80%93-direct-mail-or-email-marketing. And speaking of postcard campaigns…

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SAVE BIG ON POSTCARD PRINTING FOR MARKETING CAMPAIGNS!

During the slower summer season, why not consider getting a postcard campaign in place? www.OvernightPrints.com is running a GREAT sale on postcards through 7/12 at Midnight (PST). 1000 oversize (5.5” x 8.5”; other sizes available) cards are just $120! Use their design template or load up your own design. Either way, they make it easy!

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Thanks to several readers (and Bob Bly) who sent around the following fabulous YouTube video. Brilliantly puts into perspective clients who nickel-and-dime hardworking folks like us. Would any of them ever dream of pulling the same BS with ANY other service provider? Not a chance. www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY

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As you’ll find in this issue, several themes keep recurring: finding work where you’re already working, seeing opportunity where others see none, and making the most of who you know. Now more than ever, it’s important to work smarter and tap the relationships you already have in place. As Carol Tice demonstrates below (amongst other things), think of how you can help others and trust that it will come back to you (always does).

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II. “FIELD” GREENS: IS YOUR GLASS HALF-EMPTY OR HALF-FULL?

Seattle FLCW Sees (and Capitalizes On!) Opportunity Where Others See Closed Doors!

Got this wonderful piece from Seattle journalist/FLCW Carol Tice (www.caroltice.com). Talk about a real-world embodiment of “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”! Where others are seeing gloom and doom, Carol sees BIG opportunity. Enjoy.

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Hi Peter: There’s a lot of griping out there about the chaos in publishing, the layoffs, and how hard it is to get assignments. But, at the mid-year mark, my ’09 earnings are on track to surpass 2008 – a record year for me. I recently made $6,600 in one week capitalizing on that chaos, and have had several other promising developments.

EVERY editor I have a relationship with – including the one from my best-paying corporate client – has been let go in the past year. I see this as doubling my opportunities: I’ve kept ties with all these outlets AND made a point of not only staying in touch with the editors as they find new gigs, but sending them job leads as well!

To preserve the tie with one grateful editor I steered to a new freelance client, I took some lower-paying work she found for me: easy $100 articles for a major online business portal. This paid off in spades when this portal scored a deal to provide content for a major corporation’s small-business site. All heck broke loose.

Someone decided the site needed stories about how small businesses can capitalize on the stimulus-bill funding. And they wanted it NOW. For one week, they were paying $1,600 for 800-word features (after which rates would drop to old levels). I wrote like a demon and my total bill to them for that week was $6,600.

BUT, that pricey package NEVER posted. So I resold some of the ideas to other Web sites and magazines, and made even more money off the same bundle of research.

Also, at one of my copywriting clients, they fired my editor, leaving me as the only “institutional memory” left on project status and priorities! I’ve become indispensable and probably billed $1000 extra in a few weeks just for all the “re-orientation” meetings.

Finally, one of my $1-a-word magazine clients fired so many editors, they no longer have people to come up with story ideas. So I pitched about 8, and I think at least half are getting assigned. In the past, I had to wait for them to drop one of their ideas on me.

So yes, it’s crazy out there, but that creates a lot of opportunities to make good money. I’m ramping up reselling of articles, which I never do enough of. I write about real estate for my local daily, and I’m retooling a lot of the topics for other markets which I’m hoping will yield some quick easy assignments, hoping to make connections with some better-paying real estate publications through my pitches.

I’m so sick of all the discussions I’m seeing online from people writing $10 articles! Stop it already and get real work, it’s out there.

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III. MAIN COURSE: 4 PATHS TO MORE BUSINESS FROM EXISTING CLIENTS

Canadian FLCW: It’s FAR Easier to Tap Existing Work Sources Than Find New Ones!

Piggybacking on Carol’s theme of seeking new opportunity in familiar places, I got this great piece from Canadian FLCW Pete Savage (www.TheWealthyFreelancer.com) about finding more work through existing clients. As you might remember, Pete was the one who created a wildly successful direct mail program: sending letters to just 77 prospects yielded over $100K in new business in under two years! Pete came out with a kickbutt program showing how to put together your own direct mail package from scratch. Check out all the details at www.tinyurl.com/savagesuccess.

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Marketing in order to pick up new clients is always a great idea, but picking up additional business from existing clients is much, MUCH easier. Here are four things you can do to deepen your relationships with existing clients and get more business the easy way.

1. JUST ASK! Early on in a project, after I’ve taken my client through my standard questions, I open up the door for future work by asking: “So, what’s next in your marketing plan once this project is done?” When asked in a casual, conversational tone, it’s a non-threatening way to get a glimpse into other potential projects on the horizon. Some clients won’t tell you, or won’t have anything planned. But, sometimes you’ll hear the type of answer you’re hoping for: “Oh, we’re planning a series of white papers on this subject as well. We’ll get you to quote on those too.”

2. FIND OUT WHO ELSE YOU NEED TO MEET Once you’re familiar with your client’s marketing activity and you’ve built up a good track record with your main contact, it’s fine to ask, “Are there other people in your company who might need copywriting help?” If your contact mentions someone else, ask to be introduced! If your contact says, “Well, Sandra Thompson is our PR person; she might use writers,” all you need to say is, “Would you mind introducing me to her?”

3. OFFER A “LUNCH & LEARN” What’s your area of expertise? Search Engine Optimization? Social media? Writing white papers? Put together a presentation on the subject, pack it full of relevant, high-value content and offer to deliver it to your client’s marketing folks in the form of a “Lunch & Learn” at their office with you bringing the lunch. Your client benefits through free training (and free lunch!) for their staff. The benefits to you are two-fold: 1) You elevate your perceived status in the eyes of your main contact, and 2) You meet other people within the company, who don’t yet know you, but may need copywriting help.

I recently did one on direct mail for a client and 15 marketing people showed up! Within a week, I had one project from that presentation which paid for the lunch tab many times over. And now I have more than a dozen new warm prospects to call on.

4. PARTNER & PROSPER Here’s a great idea I know Peter Bowerman is big on: partner with a great graphic designer. If your client knows you can easily handle the design component of a copywriting project, they just might start looping you into other “design” projects that usually get sent right to their agency! (Often these projects include copywriting, which the agency snaps up by default.) It might just unlock a whole slew of work that’s currently passing you by. (The caveat here, of course, is to partner up with a stellar designer, a topic Peter has covered in depth before.)

Final thought: Just be tactful when considering when to go deeper into a client relationship. Some of the techniques above are harmless enough (like number one) but others require you build up a bit of a reputation with the client before you make your move. Just like you wouldn’t fly to Vegas and get married on a first date, you do want to establish a baseline relationship with your client before offering to get more serious. Go with your gut, and when the time is right, use these techniques to bring in more business. You’ll be surprised at how easy it us to come up big!

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IV. DESSERT: Sweet Success Stories and Tips

MI FLCW Uses Lulls to Invest in Her Business, Enjoys Uncommon Success!

TIP: CA FLCW Says “Daily Reading Is an Investment in Your Business!”

Got this great success story from Higgins Lake, MI FLCW Nancy Adams (naadams@writemind.net, www.writemind.net). 2009 is shaping up as possibly her best year ever. Love hearing words like these in times like these!

Hi Peter: Just checking in to report that life is still grand here in the north woods. 2008 was my busiest and most successful year yet, and 2009 is showing promise of surpassing that, in spite of the wretched economy.

It helps that I have some great clients in fairly recession-proof businesses. But with all my clients, I try to deliver the message that an economic slowdown is no time to stop investing in one’s business; marketing and PR are more important now than ever.

And, following my own advice, I took a good, hard look at my own web site – it was dark and uninviting, the content stale (because updating was a pain), and the writing, well, let’s just say it wasn’t exactly a raving testimony to my stellar capabilities. So I rewrote the copy and hired a designer to create a fresh, new look and install a content management system, which makes updating a breeze. Feedback has been great, and the site has drawn in several new clients.

I stretched my writing skills as well, expanding my repertoire with a regular ghost-blogging gig and discovering I LOVE blogging! (highly recommend “The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging” – best I’ve found on the subject.) Finally, I ventured further into the world of social networking, where my experience with the Copywriting Success Summit 2008 participants’ group on LinkedIn led me to explore other niche groups to grow my business.

In short, 2008, my fourth full year as a full-time freelancer was the year I learned to stop worrying if my plate wasn’t heaped high with projects. Instead, now I actually look forward to those brief, cyclical lulls in demand for my services and use them to invest more time and energy in my personal and business growth.

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Speaking of investing in your business, got this great tip from Huntington Beach, CA FLCW Michelle Hill (info@winningproof.com, www.winningproof.com) about reading. As she points out, while reading doesn’t feel like working, if you’re learning more about your business as you do, it most certainly is! And it just feels kind of summery, no?

Peter: I’ve always thought that if I read during my freelance work day, that I wasn’t really working. I mean, I’m lying on my couch, well, reading. I’ve concluded that’s flawed thinking. Since I thrive on bullet points, schedules and to-do lists, incorporating reading into my daily to-do list is only natural, and it’s proven beneficial in so many ways. First, I’m learning about the craft of copywriting, my livelihood. None of us are ever at a level where we can stop learning. Secondly, I’m strengthening my FLCW toolbox, which could result in a heftier bottom line. Thirdly, I am getting away from my computer screen for a while and redirecting my concentration to another valuable part of my freelance life.

Why not schedule 30-60 minutes a day for reading during your workday? Consider it part of your FLCW continuing education. Make a list of books you want to tackle in the next month and get readin’!

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V. COFFEE, MINTS AND TOOTHPICKS

- THE WELL-FED E-PUB NEEDS ALL COURSES!

- The WELL-FED WRITER BLOG is Rockin’! http://www.wellfedwriter.com/blog

- MISSED MY TELECLASS? Full 38-PAGE e-Transcript – Just $12!

- AWAI Copywriting (& Other) Courses: Register Here, Get 2 Bonuses (no charge!)

- How Can My Mentoring Service Serve You?

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I’M SERIOUSLY LOW ON ALL WELL-FED E-PUB COURSES!

Got a great strategy, approach or specific expertise you’re willing to share? Turn it into a Feature (MAIN COURSE) for the EPUB (400-500 words; query first). ALSO, send your “GREENS” (200-300 words), TIPS (150-200) and SUCCESS STORIES (200-300) to peter@wellfedwriter.com. Archived issues at http://www.wellfedwriter.com/ezine.shtml.

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The WELL-FED WRITER BLOG is Rockin’! http://www.wellfedwriter.com/blog

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MISSED MY TELECLASS? “Thriving as a Freelance Commercial Writer”

38-PAGE e-Transcript! $12: www.wellfedwriter.com/jan07tstranscript.shtml.

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AWAI COPYWRITING (& OTHER) COURSES: Register Here, Get 2 Extra Bonuses!

Six-Figure Copywriting, Graphic Design, Internet Writing, Fundraising, Health Market and more! TWO Bonus CDS: http://www.wellfedwriter.com/awai.shtml.

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HOW CAN MY MENTORING SERVICE SERVE YOU?

For details and testimonials, visit www.wellfedwriter.com/Mentoring.shtml.

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